Mindful Purring

Today’s post written by guest blogger Daniela Caride*

I’ve been falling behind on my duties lately. When that happens, my spiritual practice is the first to suffer the consequences. So today I sit down to meditate in the early morning after some days of skipping my practice.

My tuxedo cat, Phoenix, comes, as always, and joins me in my non-thinking activity. She lies down in a sphinx position beside me and quiets herself.

Curious, Crosby, my orange cat with an attitude, arrives. He is so needy he might one day choke on his long meows to catch my attention.

Curious Crosby

This time he calls me once and realizes I’m not responding. So he lies down close to me, facing me, and starts purring. “Purr, purr. Purr, purr,” breathes Crosby, in and out.

My meditation today is not the disaster it seems. I’m paying attention to what’s happening around me, but this is part of my spiritual challenge and reward.

It’s difficult to keep focused on meditation with pets roaming, but they have such a healing effect on me that I am always willing to work this through. So I let them follow me wherever I go and participate in any of my activities to the degree they want to and can.

My hard task of meditating with the cats progresses as minutes pass.

I think about the incomplete shopping list I’ll probably forget at home when I head to the supermarket. And then I redirect my thoughts to mybreathing.

I hear people rushing to work in their noisy cars passing by my house. And then I remember to concentrate on the flow of air inflating my lungs.

I notice Crosby purring like a Harley Davidson on the carpet. And then I come back to my breathing and clear my mind.

When I clear my mind, I think less and feel more. And what I feel is Crosby’s purring, vibrating through the floor underneath. I also hear my heartbeats. They follow Crosby’s purr. Or is it the other way around?

It doesn’t matter. I just had a moment of bliss.

“Purr, purr. Purr, purr,” beats my heart.

Daniela and Crosby

*Daniela Caride is the publisher of The Daily Tail, a participatory blog about pets with stories, tips, and reviews. She lives with four cats, three dogs, and her husband in Cambridge, MA.